


if thou wilt

by visionary_cat



Category: Fae Tales - not_poignant
Genre: 5+1 Things, Character Study, Gen, Kneeling, Stealth Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 02:13:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1153544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/visionary_cat/pseuds/visionary_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Augus was born to make kings kneel before him. (Although that doesn't stop them from making him kneel, as well.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	if thou wilt

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Game Theory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296) by [not_poignant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_poignant/pseuds/not_poignant). 



> Again, Fae Tales belongs to the amazing not_poignant.
> 
> My thanks to not_poignant for being so wonderfully sweet when it comes to fanworks of her verse. Also, today's update was brilliant, omg.

 1.

The Nightmare King guides him to his knees, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

The hand feels cold. Not cold like snow, but cold like shadows, dark places without sunlight and warmth. It feels like the bottom of a lake you could never swim out of. Augus forces himself to remain calm, to not shiver – he is Augus each Uisge, and mastery comes to him easily.

“Don’t be afraid,” the Nightmare King tells Augus. “You chose this, remember?”

Augus doesn’t say anything in reply. Instead he tries to focus on the mental image of Ash, that dripping colt who had appeared out of nowhere in his lake. He had been so small.

Augus can feel the shape of the ground against his knees, and he knows that if he remains here long, he will ache.

“Look at me,” the Nightmare King says, and the hand on Augus’ shoulder turns into a caress.

Augus looks. He takes in the chilling gold of the Nightmare King’s eyes, his own eyes hard like steel. He knows what the king is doing to him. He had thrown Augus into darkness, bound with restraints, and had left him there for hours, half a day, a day, Augus doesn’t know. And then the Nightmare King had returned, twisting off the restraints and gracing Augus with touch and soft words.

He tells himself that he is not afraid. He tells himself that he will not fall into desperation. That his centre will hold.

 _I will make you kneel,_ he promises those gold eyes.

He bares his teeth and snarls a compulsion.

 

2.

The Raven Prince folds underneath his touch. He doesn’t protest when Augus coaxes him to kneel, stroking the feathers at the back of his neck and murmuring meaningless nothings.

“You’re doing well,” Augus says softly. “Very good.”

If he had been so dominating earlier on, the king would have pushed him away. But he is succumbing, slowly, beautifully, and Augus feels the thrill that this power gives him. There isn’t regret. There shouldn’t be.

After the first time, he had picked up that one feather that the Raven Prince had left behind and held it to his chest. Then he had shredded it into pieces – quickly, viciously.

He flutters his fingertips across the Raven Prince’s face, and repeats, “Very good.”

 

3.

The white haired man appears in his dream like an unexpected ghost. Augus is having a nightmare – a nightmare about Pitch Black, forcing the shadows into him, making him shudder and shake and leaving him hovering over unconsciousness.

He recognizes the newcomer as a former client.

He had come to Augus when he had started his business, trusting that Augus would keep silent and would be efficient. He is Augus’ first prestigious client, and somehow, after he left, Augus began to receive more clients. That was this man’s payment.

“Why are you—“ Augus starts to say, but he realizes that it doesn’t matter. What matters are the tired lines on the man’s young face, and the way he looks weary.

“Another session, Augus Each Uisge?” the man asks, quietly. “I will pay.”

The man makes the Nightmare KIng and the shadows disappear. He will make Augus’ dreams better tonight and the rest of this week; and it counts, it is the perfect payment.

Augus stands, still shaking, but he pulls the man into his arms, feeling the white robe ripple against him. He can feel his domination returning, strong and heavy, and there is something comforting about holding Dream of the Endless to his chest, bent down on the floor beside him.

“Daniel,” he breathes, using the name that the man had given him so long ago, and Dream makes a sound like a sigh.

 

4.

Ash kneels before him, dressed stupidly casual in human clothes as usual, but there’s anticipation gleaming in his eyes.

“Ash Glashtyn,” Augus says. “I, Augus each Uisge, King of the Unseelie Court, revoke your status as underfae raise you to the status of Inner Court.”

It isn’t something that happens fast, but Augus can sense the change in his brother. Ash rises, grinning, and looks proud of Augus, proud of his older brother.

“Hey,” Ash says, laying a hand on Augus’ shoulder, “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but I think you need me. We’re in this together, right?”

He turns his head up at the beautiful starry sky that the Raven Prince had left behind, and gives Augus a smile that brings him hope.

Soon, he will make a move against the Nightmare King. But now he returns his brother’s touch, gripping Ash’s forearm tightly, taking in the scent of freshwater, beer, and newfound power.

 

5.

Augus is on his knees in the ice, kept in place by that damnable frost spirit.

“Careful,” he tells his brother.

And then he screams when the shadows envelop him.

 

+1.

It is a long six months. He has never been so dry, even in his previous company of the Nightmare King, yet he bears it. He thinks of water and Ash’s laughter. He tries to remember how he named himself.

Augus doesn’t raise his eyes up to Gwyn ap Nudd. No doubt here to taunt him, to revel in the fact that the former Unseelie King is trapped, stuck inside a cell and on his knees.

Gwyn gloats, as expected.

When Augus finally looks up – _Ash_ , Gwyn mentions _Ash_ \- their eyes meet.

Something starts here.


End file.
